A brief history

A townland is a small geographical division of land. The townland system is of Gaelic origin, pre-dating the Norman invasion, and most have names of Irish Gaelic origin. However, some townland names and boundaries come from Norman manors, plantation divisions, or later creations of the Ordnance Survey.

There are approx. 61,000 townlands in Ireland according to Wikipedia. Through a donation of out of copyright sheets from Trinity College Dublin, the Irish OpenStreetMap community now has a source from which to map all townlands on the island of Ireland. The total quantity currently added to OSM is detailed on the townlands.ie website

Progress Monitoring

You can review the current state/progress of the project by visiting any of the 3 sites below

The benefits of having all townland boundaries mapped in OpenStreetMap are:

It will allow for geocoding of rural addresses

It will enable anyone to fully utilise and visualise Census data

Highly useful for genealogical searches for people looking into the history of family trees of immigrants down the centuries

Gives the option of using OSM data for a much higher level of statistical analysis as presently the smallest boundaries available with which to divide up Ireland are City & County boundaries.

All of the above plus the favourable terms of the ODbL license applies ensuring this data is free to use for any and all that want to make use of it, in other words, no exorbitant fee's would apply for this data.

If you know of other reasons, feel free to add them to the list.

How long will it take to finish all townlands in Ireland?

This is a multi-year project which has been ongoing at varying rates among the OpenStreetMap Ireland community over the last number of years. Recently Townlands.ie added an ETA function showing how long it would take to complete all the townlands in Ireland. As of 13th Oct 2014, at the current rate of mapping, the project would not be completed until the year 2025.

The hopes are that the information on this page will spur additional people to take part in mapping these important boundaries.

As of 13th Oct 2014, there are approximately 50,500 townlands remaining to be added to OSM. Based on this, the 3 tables below show the time required to complete map this quantity based on X number of mappers adding X number of Townlands on a daily basis.

Time to 100% coverage based on 5 townlands mapped a day

Qty of mappers

1

2

3

4

5

10

15

20

Daily qty by x mappers

5

10

15

20

25

50

75

100

Days To Finish

10,113

5,057

3,371

2,528

2,023

1,011

674

506

Months To Finish

337.1

168.6

112.4

84.3

67.4

33.7

22.5

16.9

Years To Finish

28.1

14.0

9.4

7.0

5.6

2.8

1.9

1.4

As you can see, the more people actively involved, the better.

The table below contains the same information, however the qty of townlands mapped each has been increased from 5 to 6 to illustrate the impact a small increase in effort can have when spread among many participants.

Time to 100% coverage based on 6 townlands mapped a day

Qty of mappers

1

2

3

4

5

10

15

20

Daily qty by x mappers

6

12

18

24

30

60

90

120

Days To Finish

8,428

4,214

2,809

2,107

1,686

843

562

421

Months To Finish

280.9

140.5

93.6

70.2

56.2

28.1

18.7

14.0

Years To Finish

23.4

11.7

7.8

5.9

4.7

2.3

1.6

1.2

How long will it take an average mapper to complete a single map sheet?

To give a rough idea, for a single sheet that requires rectification and mapping, the approximate time frame to complete it, spending an hour a day at the task, is roughly a month. That breaks down as follows:

2 weeks to review all existing OpenStreetMap data under the sheet and realign and map any missing roads etc.

2-3 days to rectify the sheet

2 weeks to map the townlands

Whom to contact if you need assistance

Feel free to use any of the following methods to contact any of the Irish mappers, however it is recommended you use the mailing list for all townland mapping related questions so that everyone on the list is aware of the question and more importantly, the answer. As time progresses, these Q&A's will be assembled into a F.A.Q on this page to benefit other mappers

The process laid out

Below is a high level overview of the process of mapping townlands including the rectification of the TCD map sheets. For more detailed information an 8 part video series is available futher down this page which goes into much more detail.

Mapping townlands video series

An 8 part video series was created by DaCor which goes through all aspects of townland mapping. Below is a brief summary of each episode, along with links to anything mentioned in each episode.

Episode 3 - Review existing OpenStreetMap data for accuracy

Screenshot of 90 Days of edits heatmap from ITOworld.com which is useful in identifying where you last edited

Summary

The map sheets that are used as a basis for mapping townlands need to be positioned correctly to allow for accurate tracing of the boundaries.

This positioning is called rectification which will be covered in episode 5 however the map sheets are rectified against existing OpenStreetMap data, so it is important that this data is correct before using it to rectify against.

In this episode I will show how to review existing data and adjust it if required to improve its accuracy.

I will also go through a handy heatmap tool from ITOworld.com that you can use to keep track of your progress

Episode 5 - Rectifying a map sheet

This episode goes through the steps of rectifying a map sheet so that it appears in the correct location and is as accurately placed as possible using Mapwarper.net. Also included is instruction on using Mapcraft.

Episode 6 - Preparing JOSM with presets and map styles

In this episode, I show how to setup JOSM with Map Paint Styles and Tagging presets to assist with mapping townlands. I also show how to modify the toolbar to allow easier access to the various tagging presets.

Episode 7 - Creating townland boundaries

This video shows you how to create townland boundaries using JOSM. Included is instruction on how to read the map sheets to identify the correct boundary line and some simple tips to make this task easier.

Episode 7.1 - What is a sub-townland and how to map it

This video explains what a sub-townland is and also goes though in detail how and when it should be mapped and when it is not necessary to map these. Included is instruction on using the sub-townland preset to make this task easier.

Episode 7.3 - Future topic title here

Episode 8 - Tips, tricks, and troubleshooting

This videos covers some additional tips, tricks and troubleshooting for issues that may come up but have not been covered in the previous videos of this series. Each bullet point below contains a links to the portion of the video specific to each bullet point:

Episode 8.1 - How to map and tag Historical and other features found on the TCD map sheets

This videos shows how to correctly map castles, forts etc. In addition, there is also instruction on how to map schools, churches etc, all of which can be identified on the TCD map sheets and details on how to modify the map styles to allow for easier viewing of the information below in the satellite layer or on the map sheets.

Each bullet point below contains a links to the portion of the video specific to each bullet point:

Getting JOSM ready

There are a few things you need to add to JOSM to enable you to map townlands effectively. These only need to be done once so if you have already done these, skip this step. Detailed instruction, if needed, is available in Episode 6 of the Townland Mapping series, linked above

Why JOSM instead of other editors?

Editing relations is easier with JOSM

The townland-mapping workflow has been refined with JOSM in mind

Most Irish townland mappers just prefer JOSM, and will find it easier to help you with that editor if you come across issues

Map paint style for Irish boundaries

The Irish Boundaries Map Paint Style in JOSM makes it easy to see your progress in JOSM and where gaps exist if you are adding townlands over a large area. To add the map paint style, created by IrlJidel, complete the following:

Presets

The "Irish Boundaries" presets, also created by IrlJidel, will enable you to tag townlands quickly and help prevent you making errors and also ensure all townlands are tagged in the same manner across the country. To add these presets to JOSM you need to complete the following:

Go to Edit > Preferences > Map Settings (3rd option down) > Click Tagging Presets tab > Scroll through the left list until you find "Irish Boundaries" > Select it > Click the blue arrow to add it to your "Active Presets" list on the right

Join in

Below is a list of all 32 counties on the island of Ireland, along with the names of mappers active in each county with regards to townland mapping. Feel free to join in and put your name beside a county.

Frequently asked questions

The following are a list of questions that have come up regarding the townland mapping process which have not been answered through the videos or other resources. Most of these are quick questions, with quick answers. Where more detailed information is warranted, videos will be created, carrying on from episode 8 e.g. 8.1, 8.2 etc.

Townland Mapping FAQ

Topic

Question

Answer

Townland Boundary

Where the volume of water in lakes has changed, how do I map the boundary given the map sheet shows an outline of the lake which no longer matcher the physical feature?

Trace your townland boundary right up to the waters edge, whether the lake has increased or decreased in size. Include the lake boundary itself as part of your townland boundary.

MapCraft

Do you want the reserve/freeing process in Mapcraft apply to when you are editing the townlands in OSM or just when perparing the map/rectification in mapwarper?

You only need to reserve a slice in MapCraft when you are changing its status.

You are free to continue to reserve the slice for as long as you wish, however it has no impact on the rectification or townland mapping process.

MapCraft is purely a tool to allow for easy tracking of progress and to maintain a record of links to all the various map sheets.

Townland Boundary

How do I treat existing boundaries when I come across them, for example county boundaries. What should I do with these?

County boundaries are essentially a collection of townlands and as such, the boundary of a county is the same boundary used by townlands.

When you are adding townlands near a county border, feel free to realign the county border when adding your townlands as the pre-existing boundaries in OpenStreetMap for Ireland were traced off much lower quality out-of-copyright maps which means they are often slightly off.

You should also include the county boundary as part of your townland boundary the same way you would a road or river.

Townland Naming

What do I do when I come across townlands with "or" in the title?

Where you find "or" in the title of a townland e.g. "Cloonlish or Robinhood", you should chose one as the name and the second as the alt_name.

For an example of this tagging see how the townland shown as "Cloonlish or Robinhood" has been tagged here.

You can see what this townland looks like on the GSGS 3906 map sheets here

Townland Naming

What do I do when I come across townlands with "and" in the title?

Where you find "and" in the title of a townland there is no need to use the alt_name tag.